See the Primitive Village Where Women Breastfeed Animals (Photos)

Deep in the Amazon lives the world's most endangered tribe, an ancient group who trudge through the forests of eastern Brazil carrying everything they own,  their children, their weapons and their pets.


They have been pushed to the brink of extinction by European colonists who enslaved them and ranchers who stole the land they needed to survive. And yet, they live in complete harmony with their jungle home. Most Awa families adopt several wild animals as pets and remarkably, the women breastfeed them until they are fully grown.

                    

These people are so close to being wiped out forever, that they are kept safe, away from the civilised world. Their lifestyle is so weird that some of the women folks go as far as breastfeeding animals like a squrriel.

Very few people have ever met the Awa. Photographer Domenico Pugliese is one of those lucky enough to spend time with this remarkable tribe - and even became a source of amusement for them.

                     

Pugliese first met the Awa in 2009, after a journalist friend suggested he accompany him and an anthropologist on the two-day journey down the river to then unprotected piece of rainforest the tribe called home.

'They heard the sound of the speedboat's engine and they came down to the river bank,' he recalled. 'The impact was like being in another world. The sensation could not be explained.'
But, in amongst this feeling of awe, it was the social niceties which started to concern Pugliese.

                         

To receive updates via email, please CLICK to subscribe